By SEAN AXMAKER, SPECIAL TO THE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Published 10:00 pm, Thursday, December 12, 2002

An old-fashioned sports movie about the field events between quarters, "Drumline" plays like a college version of the high school cheerleader comedy "Bring It On," replacing gymnastics and cheers with snare drums and step drills.

Nick Cannon, wearing cornrows and a perpetual smirk more annoying than endearing, plays a Harlem high school grad and snare drum phenom named Devon. Packing his attitude and arrogance along with his sticks, he heads south to join an Atlanta college band program and becomes the urban rebel in band boot camp.

Tossing away the rule book, the gifted rhythmist defiantly showboats on the field, turns team drum-offs into personal showdowns, and tosses away teamwork for individual glory. Don't expect any surprises in this checklist of teamwork cliches: Cocky freshman Devon puts the moves on an upperclass cheerleader (Zoe Saldana) and disrespects his drumline leader (Leonard Roberts) before his hubris gets the best of him.

More interesting are the sketchier dimensions of his motivation. Education is the last thing he came to college for, and he'd just as soon ignore things he doesn't understand. Devon's real breakthrough is admitting to others, and himself, that he has something to learn.

Commercial and music-video director Charles Stone III makes the precision and cadence of the marching band aesthetic cool by turning it into competition, which culminates in a battle of the bands turned musical war. It's more like the climactic battle of a platoon drama than a musical showstopper. The strobelike visual style so fashionable in high-tech action movies gives the elaborate routines an eye-catching energy and transforms the whir of drumsticks into a rapid shuffle of dramatic freeze-frames.

"One band, one sound," goes the mantra of devoted band program leader Dr. Lee (Orlando Jones), and the climax revels in the excitement of the seamless conversion of individual players into a crack unit. Along the way, however, the film loses sight of the joy of music that supposedly pushes them all.